AMERICAN  STEAMSHIP  LINES. 


SPEECH 

OP 

HON.  ALEXANDER,  McDONALD, 

OF  ARKANSAS, 

* 

DELIVERED 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


APRIL  11,  1870. 


WASHINGTON: 

F.  &  J.  RIVES  &  GEO.  A.  BAILEY, 

REPORTERS  AND  PRINTERS  OF  THE  DEBATES  OF  CONGRESS. 

1870. 


r 

■ 


■  » 


. 


<  • 


* 

. 


.  .  :  >  .  -t:-.  :  .  .  .  !r ..  /  .  i-  ■  ^ 

* 

, 


* 


■ 


*, 

* 

■ 


' 


* 


AMERICAN  STEAMSHIP  LINES. 


The  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  having 
under  consideration  the  bill  (S.  No.  338)  to  encourage 
the  establishment  of  a  line  of  steamships,  under  the 
flag  of  the  Union,  for  the  conveyance  of  the  mails  of 
the  United  States  to  European  ports  and  ports  of 
India  and  China,  by  way  of  the  Suez  canal,  and  for 
promoting  emigration  from  Europe  to  the  southern 
States  of  the  Union,  and  reducing  the  rates  of  ocean 
postages — 

Mr.  McDONALD  said: 

Mr.  President:  No  subject  should  more 
earnestly  engross  the  attention  of  Congress  than 
the  revival  of  our  commerce.  This  arm  of 
our  strength  having  been  palsied  by  recent 
events,  the  Republic  looks  to  the  Federal  Gov¬ 
ernment  to  regain  the  prestige  of  her  commer¬ 
cial  supremacy. 

Midway  between  Europe  and  Asia  our  coun¬ 
try  spans  the  whole  continent,  comprising  in 
her  resources  of  natural  wealth  more  of  the 
elements  of  grandeur  and  power  than  was  ever 
possessed  by  any  empire  of  ancient  or  modern 
times ;  our  navigable  rivers,  our  gulfs  and 
bays  indenting  our  sea-board,  opening  up  an 
inland  navigation  of  more  than  twenty-five  thou¬ 
sand  miles.  Our  railways,  like  great  cordons  of 
union,  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean  and  web- 
bingover  the  Republic  in  every  direction,  in  the 
aggregate  more  than  forty-five  thousand  miles, 
afford  ample  facilities  for  the  development  of 
our  resources  of  wealth  and  power ;  while  our 
free  institutions  stimulate  the  energies  of  our 
people  and  invite  to  our  land  an  increasing 
tide  of  emigration  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Yet  with  all  these  unrivaled  advantages  of 
natural  wealth,  of  inland  intercommunica¬ 
tion,  of  free  institutions,  and  of  command¬ 
ing  position,  the  humiliating  fact  exists  that 
we  are  almost  destitute  of  the  means  of  inter¬ 
national  intercourse  with  the  great  commercial 
Powers  of  the  world.  Not  a  line  of  Ameri¬ 


can  steamships  is  employed  in  our  trade  with 
Europe;  not  an  American  citizen,  for  profit 
or  pleasure,  can  cross  the  Atlantic  ;  not  an 
embassador  or  other  diplomatic  agent  of  our 
Government  can  be  sent  to  any  Court  of  Europe 
under  the  protection  of  our  own  flag.  Large 
subsidies  are  paid  to  foreign  companies  for  the 
transportation  of  our  mails.  More  than  ten 
million  dollars  of  profits  are  annually  drawn 
from  our  own  trade  to  fill  the  coffers  of  foreign 
capitalists,  while  our  own  ship-yards  lie  idle 
and  our  ship-artisans  and  mechanics  are  out  of 
employ.  Even  emigrants  attracted  to  our  coun¬ 
try  encounter  indignities  and  abuses  in  some 
cases  on  these  foreign  steamships  reaching  the 
horrors  of  a  middle  passage,  which  seriously 
checks  immigration  setting  in  upon  our  shores. 
All  these  facts  exist,  and  press  upon  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  the  imperative  necessity 
of  breaking  off  these  shackles  upon  American 
commerce  and  of  entering  without  delay  upon 
a  policy  which  shall  build  steamships  in  Amer¬ 
ican  ship-yards.  Give  to  our  own  merchants 
the  profits  of  our  own  commerce  and  build  up 
a  merchant  marine  that  shall  be  the  basis  of  our 
prosperity  in  peace  and  our  arm  of  defense  in 
time  of  war.  Such  a  policy,  no  matter  at  what 
expense,  is  alone  compatible  with  the  resources 
of  the  Republic,  her  geographical  position,  and 
the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  United  States. 

Our  great  sea-ports  on  the  Pacific  and  the 
Atlantic  are  the  gateways  through  which  the 
commerce  of  the  vast  interior  of  the  Republic 
will  flow  out  upon  the  world,  and  through  which 
the  wealth  of  Europe  and  Asia  will  pour  in 
upon  our  country;  while  the  transcontinental 
railways,  in  connection  with  American  steam¬ 
ship  lines,  should  turn  the  currents  of  the 
world’s  commerce  across  our  continent,  and 
place  in  American  hands  at  no  distant  day  a 
controlling  influence  as  the  leading  maritime 
Power  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


4 


In  presenting  the  merits  of  the  bill  in  aid  of 
the  Mediterranean  ^nd  Oriental  Steam  Navi¬ 
gation  Company  to  i  lie  Senate,  which  I  regard 
ns  the  lirst.  step  in  the  right  direction  toward 
the  revival  of  American  commerce.  I  propose 
to  show  its  bearing  and  importance  as  con¬ 
nected  with  my  own  State,  as  well  as  with  the 
whole  South,  and  then  to  show  its  bearing  upon 
the  whole  Union,  North  and  South,  East  and 
West.  This  broad  and  liberal  character  of 
the  bill  demands  the  attention  of  the  Senate 
and  presents  the  strongest  claim  upon  its  sup¬ 
port. 

The  present  paralysis  of  American  commerce 
presses  heavily  upon  my  own  State  of  Arkansas, 
and  Senators  will  pardon  me  in  presenting  a 
few  remarks  going  to  show  what  her  present 
position  is  and  what  it  should  be  among  her 
sister  States  in  the  American  Union  under  the 
revival  of  American  commerce,  and  the  con¬ 
sequent  development  of  her  immense  natural 
wealth.  Arkansas  has  an  area  of  52,198  square 
miles,  or  33,406,702  acres.  Her  population 
was  in  1860  435,450,  and  is  now  about  700,000. 
In  her  soil,  climate,  and  productions  she  re¬ 
sembles  the  other  cotton-growing  States,  with 
an  abundance  of  hill  lands  suited  to  general 
farming  purposes  and  stored  with  inexhaust¬ 
ible  treasures  of  mineral  wealth.  With  the 
exception  of  broad  belts  of  l^nd  along  her 
great  rivers  her  climate  is  salubrious,  and  her 
productions  are  cotton,  tobacco,  the  cereal 
grains,  potatoes,  garden  and  orchard  products, 
wool-growing,  and  stock-raising. 

Lying  upon  the  Mississippi,  which  sweeps 
her  whole  eastern  border,  she  is  intersected  by 
its  great  affluents,  the  St.  Francis,  the  White, 
the  Arkansas,  and  others  with  their  branches, 
and  in  the  southwest  by  the  Ouchita,  Saline, 
and  Ited  rivers,  which  in  the  aggregate  give  a 
steam  navigation  of  more  than  three  thousand 
miles.  These  streams,  never  obstructed  by  ice, 
water  forty-three  out  of  the  s’ixty -three  counties 
of  the  State.  Her  mineral  deposits  of  zinc, 
manganese,  lead,  copper,  marble,  whet  and 
hone  stone,  rock  crystal,  paints,  kaolin,  gran¬ 
ite,  limestone,  marls,  green  sand  and  slate,  may 
well  justify  the  assertion  that  Arkansas  is  des¬ 
tined  to  rank  as  one  of  the  richest  mineral 
States  of  the  Union.  Her  climate  is  such  that 
she  has  been  called  “the  Italy  of  the  United 
States.”  In  the  mountainous  sections  of  the 
State  her  climate  and  productions  are  assim¬ 
ilated  to  the  northern  and  middle  States,  while 
in  her  southern  borders  are  found  the  products 
of  a  tropical  climate.  No  country  in  the  world, 
except  perhaps  along  the  coast  of  Georgia,  can 
produce  as  much  cotton  per  acre  and  of  so  fine 
a  quality  as  my  own  State.  Yet  with  these 
advantages,  after  having  been  a  State  in  the 
Union  thirty-four  years,  her  present  population 
does  not  exceed  some  seven  hundred  thousand. 
Until  within  a  few  months  she  has  had  no 
common- schools  nor  public  seminaries  of  learn¬ 


ing.  Her  manufactures  are  feeble  ;  and  there 
is  to-day  less  than  one  hundred  miles  of  rail¬ 
roads  within  the  State. 

In  direct  contrast  with  all  this  the  State  of 
Iowa,  possessing  about  the  same  area,  her  ter¬ 
ritorial  position  not  superior,  her  mineral  and 
agricultural  wealth  inferior,  with  a  climate 
more  rigorous,  and  admitted  into  the  Union 
nine  years  later  than  Arkansas,  has  now  a 
population  of  more  than  one  million,  has  thou¬ 
sands  of  miles  of  railway,  seventy  colleges, 
academies,  and  universities,  and  a  taxable 
property  of  $300,000,000,  or  about  double  that 
of  my  own  State. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  why  is  this  wonderful 
difference,  which  exists  not  alone  between 
Arkansas  and  Iowa,  but  between  the  southern 
and  northern  States  generally?  While  we  are 
willing  to  concede  much  of  this  disparity  to 
the  late  peculiar  institutions  of  the  South,  this 
alone  will  not  account  for  the  present  difference 
between  the  sections  of  our  Union.  A  more 
satisfactory  solution  is  found  in  the  fact,  the 
State  of  Arkansas,  in  common  with  the  whole 
South,  has  failed  to  share  in  the  common  ben¬ 
efits  of  foreign  immigration  into  the  United 
States.  The  disadvantages  resulting  from  this 
state  of  things  since  the  close  of  the  war  have 
been  most  remarkable,  and  have  fallen  with 
crushing  power  upon  the  industry  of  the  South. 

The  disruption  of  the  social  relations  here¬ 
tofore  existing  has  greatly  disturbed  the  labor 
of  the  South  and  made  it  relatively  dearer  than 
at  the  North,  while  the  devastations  of  war 
have  increased  the  necessities  for  multiplied 
employment  and  increased  the  price  of  that 
which  was  available.  Under  these  disabilities 
we  have  struggled  on  and  have  laid  deep  the 
foundations  of  our  future  wealth.  Yet  the  fact 
remains  that  we  are  still  in  pressing  need  of 
an  intelligent  laboring  population  to  aid  us  in 
the  development  of  natural  resources ;  and  how 
to  supply  this  want  is  the  great  problem  that 
now  engages  the  southern  mind.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  much  of  the  admitted  prosperity 
of  the  great  northwestern  States  results  from  the 
fact  that  while  the  South  has  been  as  yet  almost 
wholly  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  immigra¬ 
tion  into  the  Union  within  the  last  fifteen  years, 
the  North  and  Northwest  have  engrossed  almost 
the  whole  of  this  element  of  wealth  and  power. 
We  do  not  complain  of  these  results,  nor  envy 
the  better  fortunes  of  the  northern  States,  but 
we  do  press  upon  the  Senate  the  justice  of 
entering  upon  such  a  policy  as  shall  hereafter 
admit  us  to  participate  in  this  source  of  pros¬ 
perity,  which  shall  not  only  benefit  us  without 
prejudice  to  the  North,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
promote  the  general  welfare  of  the  whole  coun¬ 
try.  In  this  connection  it  is  pertinent  to  refer 
to  the  diversion  of  a  large  amount  of  the  labor 
of  the  South,  which  has  been  heretofore  em¬ 
ployed  in  agricultural  pursuits,  to  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  railways  and  the  requirements  of  our 


5 


steamboat  navigation.  The  number  of  laborers 
thus  diverted  from  their  usual  employment  has 
rendered  field  labor  scarce  and  greatly  enhanced 
its  price. 

This  removal  of  the  colored  laborers  of  the 
South  from  their  usual  occupations  bears  most 
heavily  upon  Virginia,  and  is  depriving  her  of 
a  large  proportion  of  her  valuable  population, 
and  that,  too,  without  conferring  any  percept¬ 
ible  advantage  in  the  increase  of  agricultural 
labor  in  the  more  southern  States,  since  it  by 
no  means  supplies  the  want  of  labor  diverted 
by  the  causes  before  adverted  to.  The  ben¬ 
eficial  results  of  labor  are  diminished  by  spread¬ 
ing  it  over  a  larger  space  of  country  ;  and  hence 
while  Virginia  is  exhausted  the  States  which 
receive  her  population  are  not  benefited  in  a 
degree  corresponding  with  her  loss.  The  same 
course  of  remark  will  apply  with  more  or  less 
force  to  the  other  more  northerly  of  the  late 
slaveholding  States.  The  Mediterranean  and 
Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  comes 
before  Congress  with  a  charter  comprehensive 
in  its  provisions  granted  by  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  asks  for  such  aid  and  recognition 
as  shall  give  it  a  national  character  and  enable 
it  to  cope  with  foreign  corporations,  powerful 
in  their  colossal  wealth,  drawn  from  our  own 
trade  and  upheld  by  subsidies  both  of  our  own 
and  their  respective  Governments.  A  steam¬ 
ship  line  of  fifteen  or  twenty  vessels,  of  not  less 
than  three  thousand  tons  measurement  each, 
plying  between  our  own  ports  and  those  of 
southern  Europe,  bringing  into  commercial 
relations  with  us  more  than  one  hundred  mil¬ 
lions  of  our  own  race  who  are  now  almost 
strangers  to  our  people,  cannot  be  established 
and  maintained  without  a  large  expenditure 
of  capital  and  a  credit  of  national  reputation. 

The  bill  proposes  to  construct  such  ships 
upon  the  most  approved  plans,  under  the  im¬ 
mediate  supervision  of  the  Government,  capa¬ 
ble  of  being  readily  converted  into  war  vessels 
whenever  the  exigencies  of  the  Government 
shall  require  it,  fitted  up  for  general  freight 
and  passenger  traffic  .;  and  one  of  its  leading 
features  is  to  introduce  into  the  southern  States 
a  valuable  class  of  emigrants  who  would  not 
go  into  the  northern  and  northwestern  States, 
and  who  now,  in  numbers  from  forty  to  fifty 
thousand,  go  annually  into  South  America  and 
Australia,  but  who,  if  American  steamships 
were  established  would,  in  increasing  num¬ 
bers,  greatly  prefer  to  cast  in  their  lots  with 
us,  and  thus,  without  prejudice  to  the  North, 
bring  to  the  South  a  just  participation  in  the 
advantages  of  foreign  immigration,  thus  adding 
to  the  common  wealth  of  the  whole  Republic. 

Statistics  are  at  hand  showing  the  import¬ 
ance  of  immigration  to  the  wealth  and  pros¬ 
perity  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  rela¬ 
tive  advantages  hitherto  derived  to  different 
sections  of  our  country  from  this  source. 

From  the  port  of  New  York  alone  eight 


lines  of  foreign  steamships  are  now  plying 
between  it  and  different  ports  of  Europe,  own¬ 
ing  one  hundred  and  nineteen  steamers,  of 
an  aggregate  of  311,000  tons  burden,  namely: 


T0H8. 

The  Bremen  line  to  New  York,  18  steamers, 

of  3.000  tons  each .  54,000 

The  French  line,  4  steamers,  of  3,000  tons 

each .  12,000 

The  Hamburg  line,  11  steamers,  of  3,000  tons 

each .  33,000 

The  Inman  line,  16  steamers,  of  3,000  tons 

each . 43,000 

The  National  line,  12  steamers,  of  3,100  tons 

each .  37,200 

The  Williams  &  Guion  line,  6  steamers,  of 

3,100  tons  each .  18,600 

The  Cuna  d  line,  24  steamers,  ot  3,000  tons 

each .  72.000 

The  London  lino,  4  steamers,  of  2,000  tons 

each  . 8,000 

The  Anchor  line,  24  steamers,  of  1,200  tons 
each .  28.800 


Total .  311,000 


The  cost  of  this  immense  merchant  marine 
is  put  down  at  $75,000,000,  and  is  manned  by 
at  least  fifteen  thousand  men,  who  derive  their 
supportand  that  of  their  families  from  the  trade 
of  Europe  to  and  with  the  city  of  New  York. 
The  gross  annual  earnings  of  these  steamships 
are  estimated  at  $20.01)0,000,  yielding  a  net 
profit  of  $10,000,000  per  annum,  which  are 
derived  from  the  American  trade,  but  which 
our  foreign  cousins  put  exclusively  into  the 
pockets  of  their  own  shareholders,  owners,  and 
iusurers. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Our  ocean-bound  Re¬ 
public,  with  its  unrivaled  commercial  advan¬ 
tages  and  its  forty  million  inhabitants,  is  in 
like  manner  dependent  upon  France  for  a  por¬ 
tion  of  her  foreign  trade. 

The  French  Transatlantic  Steamship  Com¬ 
pany  runs  several  of  their  steamers  to  New 
York,  and  on  two  other  lines — one  to  the  West 
Indies,  and  the  other  to  Guadeloupe,  Vene¬ 
zuela,  and  Aspinwall.  In  1868  the  ships  of 
this  company  made  twenty-five  trips  to  New 
York,  the  average  receipts  of  which  were — 


The  gross  sum  of. . $50,000  per  trip. 

In  1864  the  average  receipts  were .  28.000  per  trip. 

In  1865  they  were .  42  800  per  trip. 

In  1866  they  were .  44,200  per  trip. 

In  1867  they  were .  48,400  per  trip. 


making  a  gross  amount  in  five  years  to  French 
capitalists,  derived  from  the  xltuerican  trade, 
of  $5,213,400. 

The  whole  number  of  steamers  of  this  com 
pany  is  twenty-one,  with  an  aggregate  of  eighty 
thousand  tons.  The  capital  of  this  company 
is  $10,000,000,  and  the  cost  of  their  ships  13 
$13,120,000  in  gold. 

This  company  is  largely  aided  by  the  French 
Government,  having  received  an  advance  in 
way  of  a  loan  of  $3,000,000,  payable  in  ten 
years  without  interest.  Their  total  annual 
receipts  are  $4,500,000,  of  which  $1,000,000 
is  paid  by  the  French  Government  as  a  direct 
subsidy.  Their  receipts  derived  from  their 


6 


/ 


trade  with  New  York,  as  shown  above,  is  con¬ 
stantly  increasing.  The  cost  of  those  New 
York  trips  have  not  exceeded  each  $25,000, 
showing  immense  profits,  and  yet  the  net  profits 
of  this  French  company  is  probably  less  on  the 
capital  invested  than  of  other  European  lines 
engaged  in  our  trade. 

These  important  statistics  of  these  European 
lines  are  stated  not  out  of  hostility  to  them,  but 
in  order,  Mr.  President, to  awaken  an  American 
sentiment  in  Congress  to  imitate  the  example 
of  our  great  commercial  rivals. 

Will  it  be  said,  sir,  that  we  have  not  the 
means  to  enter  upon  the  arena  of  commercial 
rivalry;  that  our  private  capital  is  insufficient 
for  this  contest?  Sir,  these  foreign  steamship 
lines  were  not  established  by  private  enterprise 
alone,  but  were,  and  still  are,  liberally  subsi¬ 
dized  by  their  respective  Governments.  But 
besides  these  subsidies  those  companies  re¬ 
ceived  large  loans  of  money  and  credit  from 
their  respective  Governments,  without  which 
they  could  never  have  established  their  lines. 
In  regard  to  governmental  aid  the  history  of 
the  French  line  is,  in  the  main,  the  history  of 
them  all. 

How  long,  sir,  will  Congress  refuse  to  come 
to  the  aid  of  our  citizens  in  redeeming  our  own 
trade  from  these  intolerable  burdens,  and  to 
vindicate  our  national  honor  from  this  com¬ 
mercial  degradation?  We  do  not  ask  for  sub¬ 
sidies  in  money,  but  in  the  way  pointed  out  in 
this  bill,  without  embarrassment  to  our  over¬ 
taxed  Treasury,  and  in  a  manner  effectual  to  the 
success  of  this  American  enterprise. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  have  not  done  with 
statistics.  The  Senate  will  bear  with  me  while 
I  plead  with  them  for  the  welfare  of  the  South, 
and  that,  too,  in  a  manner  compatible  with  the 
common  wealth  of  the  whole  Union. 

In  1869  these  great  European  lines,  plying 
between  New  York  and  English,  German,  and 
Prussian  ports,  introduced  into  our  country 
258,000  immigrants ;  and  since  1864  there  have 
arrived  through  the  same  lines,  1,350,000  in 
the  United  States.  By  a  sound  principle  of 
olitical  economy  each  of  these  immigrants  may 
e  estimated  worth  to  our  country  $1,000  irre¬ 
spective  of  the  capital  brought  with  them — 
making  the  aggregate  of  $1,350,000,000,  which 
would  distribute  nearly  thirty-four  dollars  to 
each  of  our  forty  million  inhabitants  ! 

Of  this  vast  army  of  immigrants  all  but  thirty 
thousand  have  settled  in  the  northern  and 
northwestern  States,  and  of  this  latter  number 
only  three  hundred  have  come  to  my  own  State, 
while  twenty-two  thousand  have  gone  to  tha 
State  of  Iowa  and  one  hundred  and  eleven  thou¬ 
sand  to  Illinois ;  while  correspondingly  large 
numbers  have  gone  to  other  western  States. 

On  the  basis  before  stated  this  gives  nearly  to  the 
northern  and  western  States  the  sum  of  $1,320,000,000 
And  to  the  southern  States  the  sum  of...  30,000,000 

And  to  my  own  State  the  sum  of .  300,000 


Sir,  we  do  not  complain  of  these  results.  We 
would  not  strike  a  single  brilliant  from  the 
northern  crown ;  we  would  not  impede  the 
onward  and  upward  course  of  our  sister  States ; 
but  we  do  ask  to  participate  in  this  common 
heritage  of  the  Republic. 

The  immigration  which  upon  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  an  American  line  of  steamships  to  south¬ 
ern  Europe  would  come  to  the  southern  States 
would  be  drawn  from  Spain,  southern  France, 
Italy,  Switzerland,  southern  Germany,  Aus¬ 
tria,  and  the  Christian  provinces  of  Turkey. 
For  want  of  such  a  line  to  the  United  States 
large  numbers  go  annually,  as  before  stated, 
into  South  America  and  Australia.  In  1869 
ten  thousand  people  emigrated  from  Switzer¬ 
land,  and  only  five  thousand  came  to  this  coun¬ 
try,  but  not  one  to  the  southern  States. 

Over  four  hundred  thousand  people  emi¬ 
grated  from  France  and  Italy  during  the  past 
five  years,  and  ot  these  none  came  to  the  United 
States,  for  lack  of  direct  means  of  transport¬ 
ation,  but  were  carried  by  cheap  steam  trans¬ 
portation  to  Brazil,  La  Plata,  Buenos  Ayres, 
Montevideo,  to  Africa,  and  other  countries  to 
which  steamship  lines  ply  regularly  from  Italy 
and  France. 

Mr.  President,  is  it  not  palpable  that  a  large 
part  of  this  emigration  from  southern  Europe 
could  be  turned  in  upon  the  South  if  an  Ameri¬ 
can  line  of  steamships  like  that  contemplated 
in  this  bill  were  established  ;  and  will  Senators 
doubt  that  a  large  majority  of  these  emigrants 
would  prefer  to  come  among  us  if  cheap  and 
comfortable  passage  were  provided  for  them? 
Why  should  they  not  come  to  our  shores? 
Surely  our  country  holds  out  to  them  far 
stronger  inducements  than  can  be  offered  in 
any  of  the  countries  before  named  to  which 
they  now  emigrate. 

Why  should  not  the  French  people  prefer  to 
emigrate  into  the  rich  and  grand  valley  of  the 
Father  of  Waters,  first  settled  by  their  own 
race,  where  they  would  meet  the  descendants 
of  a  noble  common  ancestry,  and  where  the  geo¬ 
graphical  nomenclature  of  the  country  would 
continually  remind  them  that  they  were  in  the 
land  of  their  own  countrymen?  They  would 
find  a  hearty  welcome  from  our  citizens,  many 
of  whom  are  the  descendants  ofthe  early  French 
pioneers  of  the  great  valley. 

The  descendants  of  the  Huguenot  French 
colonists  are  among  the  best  citizens  of  Virginia, 
and  the  Catholic  French,  who  colonized  Louisi¬ 
ana,  number  their  descendants  by  thousands. 
The  Italians,  too,  with  their  industry  and  frugal 
habits,  handed  down  in  their  posterity,  are  still 
found  on  the  Mississippi  in  the  same  State, 
around  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  below  New 
Orleans  the  sailors  of  the  lake  and  river,  and 
the  market  gardeners  of  the  city,  descended 
from  a  colony  of  Italians  planted  there  nearly  a 
century  ago.  In  Texas  the  southern  Germans 
in  later  years,  by  slow  and  tedious  passage  by 


7 


sailing  sliips,  have  come  and  colonized  to  the 
number  of  several  thousands.  How  would  this 
colony  have  flourished  had  direct  communica¬ 
tion  by  steam  been  offered  us  by  the  ships  of 
this  line?  How  with  the  colony  of  Moravians 
from  Austria,  who  settled  in  North  Carolina, 
and  whose  industry  and  frugal  habits,  honesty 
and  thrift,  have  made  them  a  credit  to  the 
State  that  calls  them  sons  and  daughters. 
"Without  direct  communication  for  many  years 
these  people  keep  in  remembrance  the  kin  and 
blood  in  fatherland,  and  look  to  the  day  when 
steamships  from  Genoa  may  arrive  at  Norfolk 
with  people  of  their  blood  and  faith  to  come 
with  them  and  swell  the  population  and  wealth 
of  that  great  State. 

During  the  last  six  years  the  mail  money  of 
the  United  States  has  averaged  the  sum  of 
$500,000,  paid  as  an  annual  subsidy  to  these 
foreign  steamship  lines. 

From  the  present  postal  arrangements  of 
the  Government  this  amount  has  been  nom¬ 
inally  greatly  reduced  ;  yet  from  the  increased 
postage  the  aggregate  amount  of  our  postal 
earnings  will  probably  not  fall  greatly  below 
the  amount  last  mentioned.  Whatever  the 
amount  may  be,  it  will  go  to  swell  the  profits 
of  these  foreign  companies  and  indirectly  take 
the  same  from  our  own  citizens.  From  this 
large  annual  expenditure  the  South  derives  no 
special  benefit  beyond  that  enjoyed  in  common 
with  the  whole  country.  But  more  than  this, 
$050,000  are  annually  drawn  from  the  public 
Treasury  to  sustain  the  Pacific  steamship  line 
and  the  line  to  Brazil;  in  which,  besides  the 
common  advantage  to  the  whole  country,  the 
South  has  no  interest  except  to  bear  her  part 
of  this  expenditure.  Of  this  we  do  not  com¬ 
plain.  We  only  ask  of  the  Government  that 
the  commerce  of  the  South  may  come  in  for  its 
share  of  its  commercial  patronage — sharing 
alike  with  the  North. 

Now,  may  not  my  State  and  the  other  south¬ 
ern  States  in  good  faith  ask  of  Congress  that 
this  postal  money  so  paid  to  foreign  steamship 
lines  shall  be  given  indirectly  and  by  the  equiv¬ 
alent  mode  provided  in  this  bill  to  an  American 
steamship  line,  owned  and  managed  by  our  own 
people,  and  sailing  from  the  ports  of  Norfolk 
and  Port  Royal  in  common  with  New  York,  so 
that  hereafter  the  benefits  from  emigration  and 
direct  trade  with  Europe  may  inure  to  the  com¬ 
mon  welfare  of  all  the  States  of  the  Union? 
Surely  there  can  be  but  an  affirmative  an¬ 
swer  to  this  question,  and  especially  so  since 
my  own  State  and  the  other  States  whose  inter¬ 
ests  are  identical  seek  not  to  deplete  the  public 
Treasury  of  a  single  dollar,  and  only  ask,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  bill,  that  the  Government, 
as  trustee,  shall  pay  the  interest  and  principal 
of  the  bonds  of  the  company,  holding  as  an 
indemnity  our  State  bonds  to  an  equal  amount, 
together  with  a  mortgage  upon  the  steamships 


of  the  company,  giving  thereby  to  the  Govern¬ 
ment  the  most  ample  security. 

On  account  of  our  present  embarrassment 
it  may  be  said  in  relation  to  some  of  our  State 
bonds  that  in  the  market  they  are  below  par  ; 
but  it  is  presumed  no  Senator  will  undertake 
to  discredit  our  States  under  the  new  order  of 
things  opening  upon  us  in  connection  with  the 
legitimate  results  of  this  company,  upon  the 
speedy  development  of  our  unbounded  natural 
wealth,  or  to  pretend  that  the  Government 
will  not  be  perfectly  secured  under  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  the  bill  to  pay  the  interest  and  prin¬ 
cipal  of  the  company’s  bonds  as  aforesaid.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  under  the  wise  and  liberal  legislation  of 
Congress  sought  by  the  Mediterranean  and 
Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  our  State 
bonds  will  soon  take  rank  in  the  market  with 
those  of  any  of  the  northern  States. 

I  presume,  Mr.  President,  that  Senators  will 
believe  me  when  I  declare  my  own  State  to  be 
loyal  to  the  Union,  and  that  she  will  not  im¬ 
pute  to  the  northern  States  a  devotion  less  sin¬ 
cere,  or  presume  to  believe  them  so  recreant 
to  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  Republic  as  to 
disparage  in  any  way  the  credit  of  any  of  the 
sovereign  States  of  the  American  Union.  I 
would  not  trouble  the  Senate  with  this  remark 
did  it  not  relate  to  the  very  life-feature  of  the 
bill.  In  the  name  of  Arkansas — and  I  believe 
other  Senators  from  the  southern  States  will 
concur  with  me — I  ask  the  North  and  the  West 
to  believe  me  when  I  declare  my  confidence  in 
the  ability  of  the  southern  States  under  a 
generous  and  liberal  policy  of  Congress  to  lift 
themselves  to  a  higher  elevation  and  pros¬ 
perity  than  ever  before,  and  with  the  other 
States  to  press  onward  in  the  advancement  of 
the  civilization  and  welfare  of  the  United  States. 

In  this  connection  I  feel  a  just  pride  in 
referring  to  the  late  action  of  my  own  State  in 
nobly  vindicating  her  financial  honor  by  fund¬ 
ing  her  State  obligations,  some  of  which,  in 
strict  legal  contemplation,  she  was  not  bound 
to  recognize.  Not  a  stain  remains  upon  the 
escutcheon  of  her  State  honor.  Arkansas, 
sir,  in  her  proud  position  in  the  Union,  in 
her  genial  climate  and  varied  productions,  in 
her  undeveloped  resources  of  natural  wealth, 
has  all  the  elements  of  a  prosperous  and  power¬ 
ful  State  ;  and  aroused  from  sleep  she  now  like 
a  young  giant  enters  upon  a  course  of  generous 
rivalry  with  her  sister  States  in  advancing  the 
happiness  of  her  own  people  and  adding  to  the 
common  glory  and  strength  of  the  American 
Republic.  With  her  there  will  be  no  looking 
backward  ;  but  she  will  press  forward  with 
untiring  energies,  diffusing  knowledge  among 
all  classes  of  her  citizens  by  the  establishment 
of  common  schools  and  colleges,  and  by  the 
construction  of  railways  and  canals,  and  by  the 
introduction  of  immigrants  to  share  with  her 


8 


own  people  the  grand  future  of  her  social  and 
material  prosperity. 

In  relation  to  the  postal  feature  of  the  bill, 
I  desire  to  say  that  the  company  proposes  to 
carry  the  mails  of  the  United  States  at  the 
lowest  rates  which  may  be  imposed  by  Con¬ 
gress;  and  this,  sir,  upon  the  principle  that 
cheap  postage  increases  correspondence,  and 
especially  will  such  be  the  effect  upon  our 
foreign  correspondence. 

The  potent  influence  such  increased  letter¬ 
writing  between  our  adopted  citizens  and  their 
friends  and  relatives  in  the  fatherland  will 
swell  the  tide  of  foreign  immigration,  and  pro¬ 
mote  alike  the  profits  of  the  company  and  in¬ 
crease  our  national  wealth.  Spread  broadcast 
over  Europe  the  most  learned  and  exhaustive 
treatises  upon  the  subject  of  our  immense  re¬ 
sources  and  of  the  advantages  of  our  country 
to  foreign  emigration,  yet  their  influence- will 
pale  before  the  magic  power  of  the  simple  lines 
of  the  humble  immigrants  who  have  settled 
among  us,  and  who  in  their  artless  manner  tell 
of  their  improved  condition,  and  invite  their 
friends  at  home  to  follow  them  and  share  with 
them  the  advantages  of  their  adopted  country. 

In  this  connection,  Mr.  President,  allow  me 
to  say  that  my  State,  in  common  with  the  other 
southern  States,  has  made  large  appropria¬ 
tions  of  money  in  the  establishment  of  emi¬ 
gration  agencies,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  to 
induce  immigration  into  our  States.  These 
efforts,  while  they  are  creditable  to  ourpeople, 
have  been  as  yet  unproductive  of  advantage  to 
us,  for  the  obvious  reasons  that  their  efforts  have 
been  directed  to  northern  Europe,  where  the 
trade  is  with  the  Northwest,  and  that  we  have 
no  lines  of  steamers  to  bring  emigrants  into 
the  South.  Hence  thousands  who  would  come 
among  us,  under  the  influence  of  existing  for¬ 
eign  steamship  lines  are  diverted  from  their 
purpose,  and  are  drifted  along  the  currents  of 
trade  and  commerce  into  the  north  and  west 
sections  of  the  Union. 

Establish  the  Mediterranean  and  Oriental 
Steam  Navigation  Company,  opening  up  a 
direct  trade  with  Europe,  and  no  law  of  nature 
is  more  certain  than  that  emigration  will  follow 
in  the  wake  of  trade  and  commerce  into  the 
South.  We  fully  recognize  the  certainty  of  this 
law,  and  do  not  propose  to  disturb  it.  We  bid 
God  speed  to  the  northern  States  in  this  behalf. 
But,  sir,  we  propose  by  the  establishment  of  this 
company  to  open  to  the  influence  of  the  South, 
&3  I  have  before  said,  one  hundred  million 
population  in  southern  Europe  already  accus¬ 
tomed  to  the  culture  of  our  great  staples,  and 
who,  under  the  patronage  of  this  company, 
following  the  isothermal  lines  of  climate,  will 
inevitably  emigrate  into  the  southern  States, 
as  the  people  of  northern  Europe  now  emigrate 
to  the  northern  and  western  States.  Surely 
no  northern  or  western  Senator  upon  this  floor 


will  begrudge  to  the  South  the  benefits  to 
arise  from  such  a  line  of  American  steam¬ 
ships,  since  it  will  not  only  not  trench  upon 
the  interests  of  the  North  or  West,  but  will, 
by  its  reflex  influence,  add  to  the  common 
welfare  of  the  Union,  and  tend  to  increase 
emigration  from  all  European  countries  to  our 
own. 

In  this  connection,  Mr.  President,  I  find 
ready  to  hand  some  important  statistics  in  the 
report  of  Mr.  J.  D.  Walker,  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  immigration  of  the  Tennessee 
Legislature.  This  report  is  the  more  pertinent 
since  it  was  made  in  reference  to  giving  the 
aid  of  that  great  State  to  the  cause  of  immigra¬ 
tion  under  the  auspices  of  this  company  : 

“The  .actual  value  of  immigration  to  a  State  or  to 
our  whole  country  is  far  from  being  appreciated.  It 
is  computed  that  since  1790  about  seven  million  im¬ 
migrants  have  arrived  in  the  United  States,  and  these, 
with  their  descendants,  comprise  nearly  twenty  mil¬ 
lions  of  our  population. 

“  In  1800  the  population  of  the  United  States  was 
only  about  live  millions,  and  without  any  immigra¬ 
tion  whatever,  it  would  now  be  less  than  fifteen 
millions.  From  May  5,  1847,  to  December  31.  1858, 
there  arrived  at  the  port  of  New  York  4,038,991 
immigrants,  and  these  nearly  all  settled  in  the 
northwestern  States.  They  have  added  ten  Scnatprs 
and  over  forty  Representatives  to  the  American 
Congress. 

“  Had  immigration  been  stopped  in  1825,  there 
would  have  been  comparatively  small  numerical 
change  in  the  population  for  1805,  a  period  of  forty 
years,  and  yet  how  great  has  been  the  country’s 
growth.  Without  immigration  the  yearly  increase 
would  have  been  only  one  and  thirty-eight  hun- 
dreths  per  cent. 

“  The  actual  increase  from  1840  to  1850  was  thirty- 
five  and  eighty-one  hundreths  per  cent.,  and  from 
1850  to  1860  was  thirty-five  and  fifty-nine  hundreths 
per  cent. 

“Immigration  has  pushed  our  country  forward 
forty  years  in  national  progress,  and  the  increase  in 
wealth  and  political  power  is  in  the  same  ratio.  To 
this  source  wo  owe  at  least  one  half  of  all  the  taxable 
property  of  the  nation. 

“The  total  increase  to  our  national  wealth,  esti¬ 
mating  both  property  and  labor,  by  immigrants  who 
arrived  from  May,  1847,  to  December  31,  1858,  was 
$5,149,713,525,  a  sum  nearly  double  the  amount  of  the 
entire  national  debt.  The  aggregate  value  of  all 
immigration  to  the  United  States  at  this  time  is  esti¬ 
mated  at  $380,000,000  per  year,  or  over  one  million  dol¬ 
lars  per  day.” 

The  average  value  of  the  personal  property 
of  immigrants  arriving  at  Castle  Garden,  New 
York,  has  been  found  to  be  $150  for  each  per¬ 
son,  man,  woman,  and  child. 

German  immigrants  alone  have  for  many 
years  brought  an  average  yearly  amount  of 
about  eleven  million  dollars. 

In  1859  this  accretion  of  wealth  at  Castle 
Garden  was  $37,500,000  ;  and  to  this  source 
the  North  owes  a  large  part  of  its  material 
advancement  in  population  and  wealth  over 
the  southern  States  of  the  Union. 

Again,  sir,  the  Mediterranean  and  Oriental 
Steam  Navigation  Company  propose,  under  the 
provisions  of  their  charter,  to  transport  the 
cotton,  sugar,  rice,  tobacco,  and  other  produc¬ 
tions  of  the  southern  States  in  American  bot- 


9 


toms  direct  from  Norfolk  and  Port  Royal  to 
the  ports  of  southern  Europe,  avoiding  the 
expense  and  delay  of  shipping  the  same  into 
Italy,  Austria,  southern  Germany,  France,  and 
Spain  by  the  way  of  Liverpool,  Bremen,  and 
Hamburg,  thereby  promoting,  in  the  economy 
of  direct  transportation,  the  interests  of  the  pro¬ 
ducer  and  consumer,  both  in  the  outward  and 
return  cargoes. 

Few  persons  have  any  definite  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  exports  of  the  southern  States, 
or  of  the  increase  of  that  trade  which  would 
certainly  follow  from  the  opening  of  a  direct 
trade  between  them  and  Europe,  and  ulti¬ 
mately,  through  the  Suez  canal,  with  the  ports 
of  southern  Asia. 

The  following  statistics,  taken  from  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  the  national  commercial  conven¬ 
tion  held  in  Boston  in  February,  1868,  and  from 
other  reliable  sources,  will  throw  light  upon 
this  important  subject: 

The  direet  exports  from  the  United  States  to  France 
and  Spain  in  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterranean  ports 

were . $57,173,394 

Our  wholeimports from  thesame  ports  were  40,614,099 

Of  these  exports,  tobacco,  raw  and  manufactured, 

was .  $5,731,820 

And  of  cotton .  28,792,559 

Aggregate  of  tobacco  and  cotton  alone. ..$34,524, 379 


From  this  showing  it  appears  that  nearly 
two  thirds  of  our  exports  to  France  and  Spain 
were  in  cotton  and  tobacco  alone,  and  I  have  not 
included  in  this  estimate  the  indirect  southern 
trade  through  England  with  these  countries 
which  may  be  fairly  put  at  $40,000,000  more. 

But  a  better  idea  of  the  magnitude  and 
value  of  the  commerce  of  the  southern  States 
will  appear  from  the  fact  that  in  1868,  2,500,- 
000  bales  of  cotton  were  produced.  If  the 
population  of  the  South  were  sufficient  we 
could  as  well  raise  8,000,000  bales.  Before 
the  war  our  product  was  5,500,000  bales. 
This  additional  3,000,000  bales,  had  it  been 
raised  in  1868  and  1869,  at  $100  per  bale, 
would  have  produced  the  sum  of  $500,000,000. 

The  estimated  demand  of  cotton  for  the 
world  is  put  down  at  some  6,500,000  bales 
per  annum.  If  it  be  objected  to  the  increased 
cultivation  of  this  great  staple  at  the  South  that 
the  market  would  be  glutted,  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  no  people  can  compete  with  us  in  its 
production,  and  that  at  rates  at  which  we  can 
make  it  a  most  profitable  crop  it  cannot  be 
produced  in  India.  Besides,  it  is  admitted  that 
the  culture  of  cotton  in  British  India  to  meet 
the  demand,  while  our  supply  during  the  war 
was  limited,  cannot  long  be  continued,  for  it  is 
threatening  a  famine  in  that  country,  by  divert¬ 
ing  from  the  production  of  breadstuff's  lands 
for  the  growth  of  cotton,  thus  raising  the  price 
of  breadstuff’s  by  their  limited  supply,  so  that 
the  increased  cost  of  bread  exceeds  the  profits 
of  the  cotton  culture ;  and,  indeed,  with  a 


further  decline,  say  to  fifteen  cents  per  pound, 
it  could  not  be  produced  at  all  in  India  or 
Egypt.  We  have,  therefore,  nothing  to  fear 
from  this  source  in  the  production  of  our  cot¬ 
ton.  Besides,  the  vast  and  rapid  increase  of 
our  population,  and  the  influence  of  our  free 
institutions  upon  the  style  of  living  and  better 
clothing  of  our  citizens,  will  increase  the 
demand  for  cotton  and  fully  justify  the  conclu¬ 
sion  that  8,000,000  bales  of  cotton  may  be 
reckoned  as  the  amount  which  may  be  profit¬ 
ably  produced  in  the  southern  States.  Indeed, 
when  we  contemplate  the  future  of  the  Repub¬ 
lic,  who  will  dare  limit  the  demand  of  this  great 
staple  for  the  supply  even  of  our  own  country? 
In  one  province  of  China  4,200,000  bales  of 
cotton  are  produced,  the  whole  of  which  is  con¬ 
sumed  within  the  country  of  its  production,  and 
even  then  foreign  cotton  is  imported  to  supply 
the  unfilled  home  consumption.  Shall  the  Uni¬ 
ted  States  in  this  respect  be  placed,  in  its  future 
progress,  on  a  lower  plane  than  that  of  China  ? 


In  1867  our  exports  to  the  Asiatic  and  East  India 
ports  were: 

To  the  Dutch  East  Indies .  $204,395 

To  the  British  East  Indies .  381,141 

To  Australia .  5,102,355 

To  Philippine  Islands .  45,636 

To  other  Pacific  islands .  85,137 

To  China .  8,788,145 


$14,606,809 


Our  imports  were : 

From  British  Indies .  $8,932,485 

From  Australia .  262,401 

From  China .  12,112.410 

From  Philippine  Islands .  3,473,371 


$24,784,697 


Total  exports  to  the  Mediterranean  and  East  In¬ 
dies .  $71,780,203 

Total  imports  from  same,  as  above .  65,394,796 


Total  exports  and  imports .  $137,174,999 


The  whole  imports  to  the  United  States  in  1867 

were .  $417,831,571 

Total  exports  from  the  United  States 
were .  438.577,312 


Total  exports  and  imports .  $856,408,883 


From  these  statements  it  will  be  seen  that 
about  one  sixth  of  the  whole  commerce  of  the 
United  States  in  1867  falls  within  the  scope  of 
the  intended  operations  of  this  company,  and 
this  trade  must  be  greatly  increased  by  the 
opening  of  the  Suez  canal,  as  well  as  by  the 
stimulus  which  the  company  will  impart  to  the 
whole  South,  increasing  her  great  staples  for 
the  demands  of  a  direct  trade  with  foreign 
ports. 

In  1857  the  whole  value  of  our  commerce 
was  $536,000,000.  Of  this  was  carried  under  a 
foreign  flag  only  $131,000,000.  While  in  1867 
our  commerce  was  $874,000,000,  and  there  was 
carried  in  alien  vessels  $577,000,000. 

The  mouthly  report  No.  24  of  the  Deputy- 
Special  Commissioner  of  Revenue,  in  charge 


10 


of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  showing  the  statis¬ 
tics  of  our  commerce  and  navigation  for  the 
months  of  October,  November,  and  Decem¬ 
ber,  1867.  and  also  for  the  year  ending  Decem¬ 
ber  31,  1858,  is  as  follows: 


Imports. 

October . $32, 170.353 

November .  28,863,914 

December .  21,935,650 

12  months,  1868..381, 336,657 


Exports.  Reexports. 

$29,197,641  $1,553,760 

37,638,344  1,032,231 

44,225,855  1.640,420 

341,347,528  20,855,802 


The  proportion  of  the  foregoing  carried  by 
American  and  foreign  vessels  during  the  three 
months  ending  December  31,  1868,  show  that 
fifty-seven  per  cent,  of  our  imports  and  forty- 
one  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  our  domestic  exports 
for  the  period  mentioned  have  been  transported 
in  foreign  vessels. 

The  gross  foreign  steam  tonnage  of  Great 
Britain  in  1867  was  775,000  tons,  while  that 
of  the  United  States  was  only  175,520 ! 

In  1853  our  commerce  was  fifteen  per  cent, 
greater  than  that  of  Great  Britain.  In  1864  it 
had  fallen  to  less  than  half  as  much,  and  in 
1866  it  was  probably  not  one  third  as  much  as 
that  of  our  great  commercial  rival. 

Furthermore,  while  in  1860  two  thirds  of  our 
imports  and  more  than  two  thirds  of  our  ex¬ 
ports  were  carried  in  American  bottoms,  in 
1866  nearly  three  quarters  of  our  imports  and 
more  than  three  fifths  of  our  exports  were  car¬ 
ried  in  foreign  bottoms ! 

From  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  1868,  the  decline  of  American 
tonnage  was  as  follows  :  during  ten  years  from 
1852  to  1862,  the  tonnage  of  the  United  . States 
entered  for  foreign  countries  was  30,228,475 
tons ;  of  foreign  vessels  for  same  period, 
14,699,192  tons.  In  five  years,  from  1863  to 
1868,  the  tonnage  of  American  ships  was  only 
9,299,877  tons,  and  of  foreign  vessels,  14,116,- 
427  tons,  showing  that  American  tonnage  fell 
from  two  hundred  and  six  to  sixty-six  per  cent, 
of  foreign  tonnage  in  the  same  trade. 

Mr.  President,  these  are  humiliating  exhibits, 
and  I  would  not  spread  them  before  the  Sen¬ 
ate,  did  I  not  hope  to  arouse  an  irrepressible 
determination  to  arrest  this  downward  course 
of  our  commerce  and  to  restore  its  former 
prestige. 

In  view  of  this  startling  evidence  of  the  de¬ 
cline  of  our  commerce,  and  the  corresponding 
emoluments  resulting  to  our  great  rivals  en¬ 
gaged  in  our  carrying  trade  and  in  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  our  foreign  mails,  need  we  be 
surprised  that  our  ears  should  be  assailed  with 
rumors  of  united  efforts  on  their  behalf  to  pre¬ 
vent  congressional  legislation  to  change  this 
downward  tendency  of  American  trade?  Can 
we  be  surprised,  sir,  at  the  somewhat  arrogant 
tone  of  some  of  our  foreign  rivals  in  the  late 
adjustment  of  our  postal  arrangements?  Can 
we  expect  that  this  golden  prize  will  be 
wrenched  from  their  grasp  without  a  struggle? 
I  ask  the  Senate,  sir,  whether  as  the  guardians 


of  American  honor  and  American  interests, 
they  Avill  longer  hesitate  to  grapple  with  this 
great  subject  and  restore  our  commerce  to  the 
proud  stand  it  held  in  1861,  when  our  tonnage 
exceeded  that  of  Great  Britain  by  732,987  tons? 
Or  when  in  1853  our  commerce,  as  I  have 
before  stated,  was  fifteen  per  cent,  greater  than 
that  of  the  now  greatest  maritime  Power  of 
the  earth? 

It  is  true,  sir,  that  the  United  States  have 
not  the  same  necessity  to  increase  her  mari¬ 
time  power  as  Great  Britain.  They  have  within 
themselves  greater  resources  of  national  pros¬ 
perity  than  are  contained  within  the  boundary 
of  any  other  empire  upon  earth. 

“These  resources  are  so  vast  that  scores  of  years, 
and  perhaps  centuries,  must  run  out  before  they  can 
be  well  and  fully  developed.  In  carrying  on  the 
great  internal  enterprises  continually  necessary  for 
the  development  of  American  resources  great  cncrgj7, 
business  capacity,  and  intelligence  are  indispens¬ 
able,  and  large  amounts  of  capital  and  labor  are  con¬ 
stantly  required.  All  minds  are  not,  therefore,  so 
exclusively  directed  to  the  study  of  external  trade 
and  commerce,  as  of  necessity  they  are  in  Great 
Britain.  A  hundredfold  more  attention  and  capital 
are  now  given  to  opening  up  thewealth  and  provid¬ 
ing  for  the  internal  trade  of  America  than  to  main¬ 
taining  and  strengthening  our  maritime  commerce 
and  international  trade.  While  all  this  is  necessary, 
and  of  the  soundest  policy,  yet  the  shipping  interests 
should  not  be  overlooked,  nor,  in  any  particular  im¬ 
portant  to  its  support  and  full  success,  be  neglected, 
but  it  should,  as  of  old,  be  watched  over  and  sus¬ 
tained  as  the  worthy  handmaid  and  partner  of  our 
agriculture  and  manufactures.” 

Sir,  this  is  not  an  age  of  isolation,  when 
great  nations  should  coil  themselves  up  within 
their  own  boundaries.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
spirit  of  the  times  is  expansive  and  benevolent, 
inviting  mutual  intercourse  and  participation 
in  the  common  blessings  of  the  earth  and  in 
the  elevating  power  of  Christian  civilization. 
The  mighty  powers  of  nature  are  harnessed  to 
the  car  of  progress,  and  the  wire  ways  of  thought 
are  encircling  the  earth,  bringing  into  common 
brotherhood  all  the  families  of  mankind.  Shall 
America  falter  in  this  grand  work  of  advancing 
the  welfare  of  our  race  ?  Shall  we  not  rather, 
while  we  surpass  all  nations  in  our  internal, 
material  progress,  seek  by  expanding  our 
external  commerce  to  share  the  blessings  of 
other  nations,  and  invite  to  our  own  country 
the  overcrowded  populations  of  less  favored 
lands  ?  These  considerations  appeal  to  our 
patriotism  and  to  the  higher  sentiments  of  our 
nature  as  citizens  of  the  Republic. 

But  the  Senate  will  bear  with  me  while  I  pre¬ 
sent  this  subject  of  immigration  in  a  different 
light,  which,  upon  principles  of  political  econ¬ 
omy,  can  hardly  fail  to  arouse  us  from  our 
lethargy  and  stimulate  us  to  activity  to  expand 
our  commercial  relations  with  foreign  nations. 

It  is  not  extravagant  to  assume  that  the 
Mediterranean  and  Oriental  Steam  Navigation 
Company,  when  once  established  under  the 
provisions  of  this  bill,  would  bring  into  our 
country  from  southern  Europe  at  least  forty 


11 


thousand  of  most  valuable  immigrants,  a  large 
proportion  of  whom  would  settle  in  the  south¬ 
ern  States.  By  reliable  estimates  recently  made, 
each  of  our  mechanics  and  common  laborers 
on  an  average  pays  an  amount  in  revenue 
equal  to  $1  87  per  week;  but  for  greater  cer¬ 
tainty  letitbeassumedat$l  50perweek.  Now, 
sir,  at  this  rate,  these  forty  thousand  adopted 
citizens  would  pay  into  the  national  Treasury 
the  sum  of  $60,000  per  week,  or  $3,120,000 
per  annum  ;  and  in  twenty  years  the  same 
yearly  accession  to  our  population  would  pro¬ 
duce  the enormoussumof$65,528,000.  Should 
it  be  objected  that  no  allowance  is  made  in 
this  calculation  for  minors,  it  may  fairly  be 
answered  that  the  increase  of  population  with 
these  adopted  citizens  would  in  twenty  years 
more  than  counterbalance  this  deficiency.  This 
vast  amount  of  $65,528,000  would  be  thus 
added  to  the  revenues  of  the  country,  without 
taking  into  account  the  large  amount  of  specie 
and  other  property  which  these  immigrants 
would  bring  into  the  country ;  and  the  still 
more  important  fact  that  their  labor  and  me¬ 
chanical  skill,  employed  in  developing  the  nat¬ 
ural  wealth  of  our  country,  would  vastly  exceed 
every  other  accretion  to  our  national  prosperity. 

But,  sir,  this  is  not  all.  These  immigrants 
would  add  largely  to  the  revenues  of  the  States 
in  which  they  settled.  From  the  same  reliable 
sources  of  information  it  is  stated  that  the  poll- 
tax  paid  by  these  forty  thousand  immigrants 
would  average  $1  50  per  annum,  which  would 
be  $60,000  per  annum,  or,  with  the  same  immi¬ 
gration  yearly  for  twenty  years,  would  swell 
the  amount  of  State  revenues  derived  from 
this  source  to  the  sum  of  $12,600,000  ! 

It  will  not,  I  presume,  be  urged  that  this  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  number  of  immigrants  that  would 
be  introduced  by  the  company  under  favorable 
auspices  is  exaggerated.  Two  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  thousand  immigrants  landed  the  last 
year  upon  our  shores  from  northern  Europe,  as 
I  have  shown,  and  nearly  as  many  left  the  south¬ 
ern  parts  of  Europe  for  countries  far  less  invit¬ 
ing  to  them  than  the  United  States.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  improbable,  but  rather  morally  cer¬ 
tain  that  the  Mediterranean  and  Oriental  Steam 
Navigation  Company,  with  their  large  and  ele¬ 
gant  steamers,  fitted  up  for  the  especial  comfort 
of  the  immigrants,  would  divert  from  this  large 
exodus  of  population  from  the  south  of  Europe 
at  least  forty  thousand  to  our  land  ;  nay,  more, 
that  other  American  lines  of  steamships  estab¬ 
lished  in  the  wake  of  this  company,  to  meet  the 
increasing  demands  of  southern  as  well  as  of 
northern  commerce,  would  find  full  employ¬ 
ment  in  this  line  of  trade  and  commerce. 

Now,  I  put  the  question  to  the  Senate,  consid¬ 
ering  only  these  vast  accumulations  of  wealth 
arising  directly  from  national  and  State  rev¬ 
enues  which  cannot  be  considered  as  over¬ 
estimated,  and  which,  as  above  shown,  would 


come  from  forty  thousand  imigrants  introduced 
annually  for  twenty  years,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  $667,880,000 — I  put  the  question, 
whether  merchants,  with  this  almost  fabulous 
amount  of  income  from  the  investment  of 
the  comparatively  trifling  capital  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  million  dollars  required  by  this  company 
to  insure  its  successful  operation  made  reason¬ 
ably  certain  to  them,  would  hesitate  to  embark 
in  such  an  adventure  ?  Why  would  it  not 
be  wise  and  prudent  for  the  Government,  if 
required  to  do  so,  to  draw  this  amount  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  million  dollars  from  the  public 
Treasury  and  donate  it  without  interest  to  this 
or  any  other  company  for  twenty  years  in  order 
to  produce  these  grand  results? 

But  instead  of  requiring  this  advance  of  cap¬ 
ital,  not  a  single  dollar  is  demanded  from  the 
Treasury.  The  company  only  ask  the  stipula¬ 
tion  to  pay  the  interest  and  principal  of  their 
bonds,  secured  not  only  by  a  first  lien  upon 
their  vessels,  constructed  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Government,  and  devoted  to  the  use  of 
the  nation  whenever  the  public  exigencies  shall 
require  it,  but  also  secured  by  the  pledge  of  an 
equal  amount  of  the  bonds  of  sovereign  States 
of  the  Union.  These  States  are  to  be  the  recip¬ 
ients  of  values  far  greater  in  amount  than  the 
bonds  deposited  by  them  in  behalf  of  this  com¬ 
pany ;  for  if,  as  is  on  all  hands  conceded,  each 
immigrant  has  in  political  economy  a  cash  value 
of  $1,000,  these  forty  thousand  immigrants  in 
one  year  would  add  to  the  wealth  of  the  southern 
States  $40,000,000,  aud  this  same  number  intro¬ 
duced  annually  for  twenty  years  would  increase 
their  material  wealth  by  $800,000,000!  This 
showing  in  mercantile  transactions  would  be 
regarded  a  most  ample  security  for  $20,000,000. 
Is  it  not,  therefore,  the  duty  as  well  as  the 
interest  of  the  Government  to  grant,  not  money, 
but  the  credit  required  by  this  company,  to 
enable  it  to  embark  in  this  enterprise  with 
ample  resources  and  a  national  reputation  that 
shall  sustain  it  under  all  opposition  from  the 
colossal  wealth  and  governmental  patronage  of 
foreign  competition? 

But  it  may  be  asked  why,  if  such  are  the 
prospects  of  success  of  this  or  any  other  com¬ 
pany  started  upon  the  basis  adopted  by  this 
company,  should  not  private  capital,  always 
seeking  large  profits,  be  found  sufficient  to  com¬ 
pass  this  enterprise?  The  answer  is  at  hand. 
The  depression  and  decay  of  American  com¬ 
merce  and  the  colossal  strength  of  foreign 
steamship  companies,  built  upon  the  ruins  of 
our  shipping  interests,  the  expense  and  dis¬ 
abilities  of  entering  at  once  upon  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  iron  ships  to  compete  with  these  for¬ 
eign  lines,  and  the  power  and  patronage  which 
they  derive  from  their  respective  Governments, 
preclude  the  successful  competition  of  mere 
private  capital. 

To  show  how  easy  it  is  for  a  foreign  steam* 


12 


ship  line  to  increase  the  number  of  its  ships 
as  required  from  time  to  time  at  our  expense 
I  would  state  that  a  promising  foreign  steam¬ 
ship  company  can  establish  a  credit  with  our 
importing  merchants,  and  can  through  its 
agent  in  New  York  draw  upon  the  company 
or  its  bankers  in  Liverpool  or  Glasgow,  pay¬ 
able  in  London  ;  or  they  can  draw  on  Hamburg 
or  Bremen.  These  bills  find  a  ready  sale  in 
New  York  to  our  merchants,  who  use  them  as 
remittances  to  their  correspondents  abroad. 

It  is  easy  for  such  a  company  to  float  these 
bills,  drawn  at  sixty  days’  sight,  to  an  amount 
of  £100,000,  or  $480,000.  These  bills  would  be 
worth  $480,000  in  gold,  which  can  be  remitted 
by  the  agent  of  the  company  in  New  York  by 
other  bills  drawn  against  shipments  of  cotton  or 
otherwise  to  the  company’s  bankers ;  so  that 
this  sum  is  placed  in  England  by  means  of 
the  credit  given  by  our  merchants,  and  is  there 
used  as  needed.  By  redrawing  before  matur¬ 
ity  of  the  first  bills  of  exchange  and  remitting 
to  take  up  the  first  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
second  bills,  this  sum  of  $480,000  can  be 
kept  floating;  and  if  it  be  necessary  to  build  a 
steamship  the  means  can  thus  be  provided  by 
the  credit  given  by  our  own  people.  An 
American  company  cannot  do  this,  because 
they  have  no  bankers  abroad  who  are  simply 
themselves  under  another  name,  but  of  one 
and  the  same  responsibility.  Our  steamship 
lines  can  only  be  constructed  upon  the  credit 
and  means  furnished  here.  To  construct  a  line 
with  the  number  of  steamships  required  by  this 
line  under  this  bill  would  take  a  capital  equal  to 
that  of  any  of  the  foreign  lines  before  named, 
or,  say,  $15,000,000. 

Weknow  thatallourgreatrailroads,  requiring 
such  large  amounts  to  build  them, cannot  be  con¬ 
structed  by  subscriptions  to  their  stock,  but  must 
be  by  credit  or  by  bonds  of  the  company,  mort¬ 
gaging  the  road  and  appurtenances,  good  tangi¬ 
ble  security.  Hence  it  is  folly  to  talk  of  capital¬ 
ists  constructing  steamships  by  money  raised 
upon  the  stock  of  the  company.  Credit  must 
be  used  to  an  equal  amount  as  in  constructing 
railroads.  The  security  upon  steamships  is  not 
so  reliable  as  upon  a  railroad,  its  rolling-stock, 
and  appurtenances.  Something  further  will 
be  required  than  mortgages  upon  the  ships  in 
order  to  sell  the  bonds  running  as  long  as 
railroad  bonds.  For  this  reason  the  bill  asks 
for  a  credit  upon  a  pledge  of  the  State  bonds 
and  the  steamships,  as  heretofore  stated,  the 
policy  of  which,  1  trust,  has  been  fully  vindi¬ 
cated. 

This  argument  in  favor  of  granting  the  credit 
of  the  United  States  iu  some  shape  to  aid  in 
building  up  American  steamship  lines  is  of 
general  application  to  all  the  United  States  ; 
but  the  Senate  will  pardon  me  for  urging 
another  argument  of  special  application  to  the 
southern  States. 


Some  sixty  million  acres  of  the  public  do¬ 
main  have  been  granted  in  aid  of  construct¬ 
ing  railroads  in  the  northwestern  States.  No 
one  questions  the  wisdom  of  this  liberal  pol¬ 
icy.  The  South  as  well  as  the  North  rejoices 
in  the  common  increase  of  the  Republic,  and 
in  the  power  and  wealth  resulting  to  the  States 
thus  favored  by  the  General  Government.  If 
these  more  than  princely  donations  of  land 
have  enriched  these  particular  States  they 
have  also  promoted  the  general  prosperity. 

May  not  we  of  the  South  in  turn  ask  of  the 
Government,  in  the  way  provided  in  this  bill, 
aid  in  favor  of  the  Mediterranean  and  Oriental 
Steam  Navigation  Company,  whose  success, 
though  in  some  respects  of  special  benefit  to 
the  South,  will,  as  before  stated,  add  to  the 
strength  and  honor  of  the  whole  country.  It 
will  confer  especial  advantages  upon  fourteen 
of  the  sovereign  States  of  the  Union,  and  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  any  Sen¬ 
ators  upon  this  floor  will  oppose  the  passage 
of  this  bill,  but  will  give  it  God-speed  as  the 
harbinger  of  a  brighter  era  dawning  upon  the 
Republic  for  the  revival  of  her  former  com¬ 
mercial  greatness  and  renown. 

I  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate  while 
I  urge  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  re¬ 
ported  with  the  bill  by  the  unanimous  concur¬ 
rence  of  the  Senate  committee. 

This  amendment  embraces  three  points, 
which  may  be  briefly  stated  : 

1.  To  grant  eighty  acres  of  land  for  every 
tons  measurement  of  the  ships  built  by  the 
company. 

2.  To  grant  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  per 
annum  as  a  compensation  for  the  support  and 
education  of  each  American  youth  on  board 
its  ships  for  the  marine  service  of  the  United 
States. 

3.  A  grant  of  one  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  the  public  lands  situated  in  southern  States 
for  each  $100,000  of  their  bonds  deposited 
under  the  provisions  of  the  act  in  aid  of  immi¬ 
gration  by  these  States. 

In  relation  to  the  first  point,  it  will  require 
for  each  vessel  of  the  company  of  three  thou¬ 
sand  tons  measurement  a  donation  of  eighty 
acres  of  land  for  each  ton’s  measurement.  I 
think  I  have  fully  shown  in  the  course  of  my 
remarks,  saying  nothing  of  the  outlay  of  the 
Government  for  the  construction  of  war  ships 
of  the  class  of  the  proposed  ships  of  the  com¬ 
pany,  that  it  costs  the  country  a  much  larger 
sum  annually  to  keep  in  commission  one  of 
its  war  ships  ;  that  this  annual  cost  is  at  least 
$365,000,  or  $125,000  more  than  the  grant  of 
land  at  one  dollar  per  acre,  and  $65,000  more 
than  the  same  at  $1  25  per  acre. 

This  difference  in  ten  years,  even  calling  the 
land  $1  25  per  acre,  will  be  $650,000,  and  in 
twenty  years  $1,300,000.  Can  there  be  any 
doubt  on  this  point  on  the  ground  of  political 


13 


economy?  There  is,  however,  another  con¬ 
sideration  rising  above  the  value  of  dollars  and 
cents.  The  honor  and  dignity  of  the  Republic 
is  at  stake  in  building  iron  steamships  in  com¬ 
petition  with  our  great  commercial  rivals  of 
England  and  France. 

Can  the  Government  refuse  to  make  this 
donation  of  eighty  acres  of  land  for  each  ton’s 
measurement  in  aid  of  this  great  policy,  so 
necessary  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  especially  when  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view  it  will  save  to  the  Treasury  a  large  amount 
of  money? 

But  the  equity  of  this  grant  of  land  in  aid  of 
constructing  the  steamships  of  the  company 
will  perhaps  appear  in  its  strongest  light  from 
the  fact  that  the  cost  of  building  a  first-class 
iron  steamship  in  this  country  of  American 
materials  and  in  American  ship-yards  against 
the  powerful  competition  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  will  at  the  outset  be  at  least  $300,000 
more  than  one  of  the  same  class  builtabroad.  A 
vessel  of  the  character  proposed  by  the  com¬ 
pany,  built  in  this  country,  will  cost  $800,000, 
while  on  the  Clyde  it  could  be  built  for  $500,000. 
For  this  reason  it  is  that  we  ask  for  this  land, 
to  bear  up  the  company  against  this  powerful 
competition.  In  a  brief  time,  under  the  stim¬ 
ulus  given  to  American  artisans,  if  the  steam¬ 
ships  of  this  line  are  built,  the  ship-yards  of 
the  North,  as  well  as  those  of  the  South,  will 
be  able  to  compete  with  those  of  England  and 
France.  Besides,  large  expenditures  will  be 
required  to  be  made  by  this  company  to  pre¬ 
pare  its  ship-yards  and  a  dry -dock  at  Port 
Royal  and  for  the  necessary  landing  sites  and 
depots  at  Norfolk. 

Certainly,  Mr.  President,  Congress  will  not 
impose  upon  private  enterprise  and  capital  the 
great  expense  of  initiating  this  policy  so  inti¬ 
mately  connected  with  the  public  good. 

The  Mediterranean  and  Oriental  Steam  Nav¬ 
igation  Company  of  New  York  is  not  incorpor- 
rated  exclusively  to  build,  own,  and  navigate 
steamships  and  other  vessels,  and  for  running 
iron  steamships  between  this  country  and  Eu¬ 
rope,  the  Mediterranean  and  India,  via  Suez, 
but  is,  as  well,  a  great  emigrant  company  for 
the  introduction  of  emigrants  into  the  south¬ 
ern  States.  By  the  bill  the  company  is  re¬ 
quired,  with  the  consent  of  States,  to  establish 
institutions  like  the  Castle  Garden  emigrant 
commission  of  New  York,  for  the  encourage¬ 
ment  and  protection  of  immigrants,  in  the 
harbors  of  N orfolk,  Port  Royal,  and  Brunswick, 
and  thus  to  accomplish  for  the  South  and 
Southwest  what  the  Castle  Garden  commission 
has  done  for  the  Northwest.  The  eminent 
success  of  the  latter,  as  Secretary  Seward  de¬ 
clared,  “rendered  a  national  bureau  of  immi¬ 
gration  at  present  unnecessary.”  The  plans 
of  Castle  Garden  in  its  organization  and  regu¬ 
lations,  approved  by  more  than  twenty  years’ 


experience,  will  be  adopted  by  the  company  as 
far  as  practicable  at  all  of  its  depots  in  the 
harbors  named.  The  encouragement  of  emi¬ 
gration  from  Europe  is  one  of  the  main  pur¬ 
poses  of  this  company. 

This  company  will  introduce  by  steamships, 
through  its  emigrant  depots,  and  distribute 
throughout  the  South  yearly,  more  than  fifty 
thousand  people.  When  the  labor  and  expense 
of  collecting  an  army  of  this  number  of  men 
and  transporting  it  a  distance  of  a  few  hundred 
miles  are  considered,  we  may  obtain  some  con¬ 
ception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  great  work 
this  company  has  in  hand. 

To  gather  together  through  its  agencies  in 
southern  Europe  fifty  thousand  people  yearly, 
to  embark  and  transport  them  safely  with  their 
household  goods  across  the  ocean  three  thou¬ 
sand  miles,  and  again  distribute  them  over  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  southern  States,  re¬ 
quires  the  aid  of  a  powerful  corporation,  of  a 
large  number  of  employes,  and  millions  of  cap¬ 
ital  invested  in  steamships,  emigrant  depots, 
agencies,  and  supplies. 

Government  lands — the  title  perfect,  and  the 
method  of  purchase  so  simple  as  to  be  com¬ 
prehended  by  the  European  peasant — will  do 
more  to  populate  the  South  than  all  other 
means  combined.  Wherever  and  in  whatever 
country  the  working  classes  are  land-owners 
the  prosperity,  independence,  and  welfare  of 
the  rural  population  advance  in  proportion  to 
their  ownership  of  the  soil.  “  There  is,  in 
fact,  an  indescribable  something  in  the  owner¬ 
ship  of  land,  and  especially  in  the  cultivation 
of  one’s  own  land,  that  elevates,  ennobles,  dig¬ 
nifies — something  that  has  raised  the  European 
serf  and  peasant  of  fifty  years  ago  to  be  the 
terror  of  kings  and  the  main  prop  and  support 
of  liberal  government.”  The  European  work¬ 
ing  classes  are  ambitious  to  be  land  owners. 
It  can  be  said  that  these  people  now  emigrate, 
not  in  proportion  as  they  become  poorer  and 
more  wretched,  but  as  they  become  more  com¬ 
fortable  and  better  able  to  try  their  fortunes  in 
the  New  World. 

For  these  reasons  the  Mediterranean  and 
Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  have 
asked  that  certain  of  the  public  lands  be  placed 
in  their  hands,  to  the  extent  of  eighty  acres  lor 
each  ton  of  iron  steamship  they  may  construct 
for  mail,  freight,  and  emigrant  business,  as  pro¬ 
posed,  with  southern  Europe ;  that  patents  for 
these  lands  shall  be  issued  in  warrants  of 
eighty  acres,  which  shall  be  located  only  by 
the  settler,  and  in  quantities  of  not  more  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  to  each.  Thus, 
instead  of  this  steamship  company  becoming 
a  land  monopoly  through  the  land  clause  con¬ 
tained  in  the  bill,  the  lact  is  the  company  is 
only  the  almoner  of  the  United  States,  and 
extends  to  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  through 
means  of  these  land  warrants,  the  homestead 


14 


law;  makes  that  law  operative  and  practical 
there.  The  company  asks  for  the  lands  in 
eighty-acre  warrants,  showing  conclusively  that 
it  does  not  contemplate  locating  the  lands  for 
itself,  and  holding  them  under  patents,  and 
hence  it  cannot  become  a  land  monopoly. 
When  the  emigrant  reaches  our  country,  by 
law  he  can  take  up  and  become  the  owner  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the  public 
domain.  Why  should  not  this  steamship  com¬ 
pany  be  granted  lands  for  the  purpose  of  plac¬ 
ing  the  same  in  possession  of  the  working  peo¬ 
ple  of  the  better  class  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water,  to  induce  them,  by  actual  ownership 
before  leaving  their  present  homes,  to  come 
here  and  settle  under  these  Government  war¬ 
rants  on  lands  in  the  southern  States?  What 
the  South  wants  and  the  country  requires  are 
intelligent  and  industrious  emigrants,  with 
their  families.  To  obtain  these  we  must  hold 
out  inducements ;  and  in  no  way  better  than 
through  the  medium  of  this  company  and  in 
the  way  pointed  out  can  this  be  done ;  that 
is,  by  means  of  land  warrants  placed  in  the 
company’s  hands,  to  give  to  the  emigrant  be¬ 
fore  leaving  Europe  the  possession  of  a  home 
after  he  arrives  here.  The  plan  proposed  of 
distributing  lands  in  Europe  to  the  emigrant, 
who  is  to  become  an  actual  settler,  is  one  of 
the  grandest  ideas  of  the  age. 

Mr.  President,  let  us  have  one  American 
steamship  line  that  shall  be  not  only  an  honor 
to  us,  but  that  shall  extend,  by  means  of  pow¬ 
erful  steamships,  and  increase  our  commercial- 
relations,  attracting  emigration  to  us  througli 
the  whole  length  of  the  Mediterranean  sea  and 
all  its  tributaries,  the  Black  sea,  Sea  of  Azov, 
and  the  Adriatic  sea,  and  add  to  our  commerce 
by  the  way  of  the  Suez  canal,  with  rapid  and 
direct  intercourse  with  India,  the  Malay  archi¬ 
pelago,  and  China.  A  steamship  line,  com¬ 
posed  of  vessels  built  by  Americans,  of  Amer¬ 
ican  materials,  owned  by  Americans,  manned 
and  sailed  by  Americans,  opening  and  increas¬ 
ing  our  relations  with  nearly  two  hundred 
million  people  of  Europe,  and  over  six  hun¬ 
dred  million  in  the  East,  is  what  our  country 
requires  immediately,  when  it  can  be  done 
without  cost  to  the  Treasury  as  by  this  plan. 

But  I  beg  to  press  upon  the  Senate  another 
important  consideration  of  public  economy. 
It  should  be  kept  in  view  that  the  steamships 
of  the  company  are  all  to  be  of  such  a  charac¬ 
ter  that  they  may  at  once  be  converted  into 
powerful  war  ships  whenever  required ;  that 
they  will  be  kept  in  good  repair  at  the  expense 
of  the  company  and  always  ready  for  the  public 
service.  Erom  the  highest  source  of  informa¬ 
tion  I  am  told  that  it  costs  the  Government  to 
keep  in  commission  a  Government  ship  of  the 
class  of  the  vessels  to  be  built  by  this  com¬ 
pany  at  least  $1,000  per  day,  or  $365,000  per 
annum.  At  this  rate  twenty  such  ships  would 


cost  the  sum  of  $7,300,000  per  annum,  or,  for 
twenty  years,  during  the  existence  of  the  mail 
contracts  under  this  bill  with  the  company, 
the  snug  sum  of  $146,000,000. 

Now,  why  should  this  vast  annual  expense 
of  $365,000  for  each  such  ship  be  incurred 
by  the  Government  to  keep  in  commission 
vessels  lying  idle  in  our  ports  or  in  the  ports 
of  Europe,  where  they  are  of  little  or  no 
use  except  for  ostentation  and  a  continual 
drain  upon  the  Treasury  of  the  Union?  They 
are  not  needed  in  European  ports  for  the 
protection  of  our  citizens,  whose  rights  are 
there  secured  by  treaties  and  supervised  by  our 
diplomatic  agents.  In  the  East  Indies,  or  in 
semi-barbarous  countries,  the  national  power 
and  character  should  be  represented  by  the  flag 
of  the  United  States.  But  a  large  and  pow¬ 
erful  merchant  marine,  always  ready  for  the 
public  service,  and  that  too  at  a  merely  nom¬ 
inal  expense  to  the  Government,  would  seem 
to  be  a  wiser  policy  than  to  keep  in  commis¬ 
sion  a  large  'number  of  warships  not  only  idle, 
but  at  a  ruinous  expense  to  the  people. 

Let  me  not  be  understood  as  disparaging  the 
importance  of  our  gallant  Navy.  I  only  pro¬ 
pose  another  way  of  promoting  its  efficiency. 
Build  up  without  actual  or  with  merely  nominal 
expense  to  the  Government  in  the  way  pro¬ 
vided  in  this  bill  a  powerful  marine,  which  would 
be  continually  adding  to  the  material  wealth  of 
the  nation,  and  at  the  same  time  always  ready 
to  protect  our  national  honor,  under  the  control 
of  naval  officers  of  a  high  grade,  who  should 
always  be  found  in  charge  of  the  few  war  ships 
necessary  at  all  times  to  be  kept  in  commis¬ 
sion  and  sufficient  to  protect  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  wherever  demanded  by  the 
honor  of  the  Republic. 

In  regard  to  the  second  point,  if  any  further 
argument  were  necessary  to  recommend  this 
bill  to  the  cordial  and  unanimous  support  of 
the  Senate  it  is  found  in  the  provisions  for  the 
support  and  education  of  American  youth  in 
practical  seamanship,  thus  forming  a  nucleus 
of  a  powerful  merchant  marine.  Upon  every 
vessel  of  the  company  fifteen  or  more  young 
men  of  sixteen  years  of  age  and  upward  will 
be  in  constant  scientific  and  practical  training 
for  this  important  service.  The  present  cost  to 
the  Government  for  each  youth  in  training  as 
a  midshipman  at  the  Naval  Academy  is  at 
least  $1,400  per  annum.  To  supply  this  de¬ 
mand,  adding  to  the  theoretical  knowledge 
obtained  at  the  Naval  Academy  a  thorough 
practical  training  in  seamanship,  the  company 
proposes  to  educate  hardy  young  American 
boys,  for  the  consideration  of  a  grant  of  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  the  public  lands 
yearly  for  four  years  for  each  apprentice 
so  educated  on  board  the  company’s  ships. 
Allowing  twenty  ships  employed  by  the  com¬ 
pany,  with  sixteen  apprentices  each,  there 


15 


would  be  in  training  yearly,  for  the  maritime 
service  of  the  Union,  three  hundred  and  twenty 
apprentices,  at  a  cost  to  the  Government  of 
twenty  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres 
of  land,  which  at  $1  25  per  acre,  would  be 
$25,500.  The  cost  of  sustaining  the  same 
number  of  boys  at  the  Naval  Academy,  at 
$1,400  per  annum  for  each  would  be  $50,800, 
making  a  saving  to  the  Government  of  $31,300 
per  annum. 

Besides  this  annual  saving  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  lands  so  donated,  under  the 
policy  of  the  company,  would  be  settled  with 
valuable  immigrants,  thereby  adding  to  the  com¬ 
mon  wealth  vastly  more  than  the  price  of  the 
lands ;  and  also  that  the  practical  training 
of  the  apprentices  on  shipboard  would  better 
prepare  them  for  the  public  service  than  the 
education  acquired  at  the  Naval  Academy. 

In  relation  to  the  third  point,  these  lands  in 
the  southern  States  are  regarded  of  little  value, 
and  by  the  provisions  of  the  bill  are  given  to 
the  States  in  which  they  are  situated  for  the 
special  purpose  of  promoting  immigration.  If 
lands  of  the  public  domain  are  granted  to  immi¬ 
grants  under  the  homestead  laws,  why  should 
not  these  refuse  lands  in  the  South  be  granted 
to  aid  the  same  policy  of  introducing  immigrants 
into  these  States? 

But  large  quantities  of  land  in  the  northern 
and  western  States  have  been  granted  by  Con¬ 
gress  for  canals,  railroads,  and  for  educational 
purposes.  Why  should  not  the  southern  States 
share  in  the  same  advantages?  Why  should 
not  Virginia  be  heard  in  this  behalf?  In  the 
infancy  of  the  Republic,  with  more  than  royal 
bounty,  she  donated  to  the  Republic  2,642,- 
000,000  acres  of  land.  Is  it  too  much  now,  in 
the  greatness  and  strength  of  the  U nited  States, 
for  this  grand  old  Commonwealth,  on  behalf 
of  herself  and  her  sister  States  of  the  South, 
to  ask  of  the  Government  the  grant  of  a  few 
million  acres  of  land  to  promote  this  great 
American  enterprise? 

Of  the  unappropriated  public  lands  there  are 
11,700,000  acres  in  Arkansas,  1,800,000  in 
Missouri,  4,900,000  in  Mississippi,  6,900,000 
in  Alabama,  6,500,000  in  Louisiana,  and 
17,500,000  in  Florida;  in  all  49,300,000  acres. 
These  lands  have  been  long  considered  as 
nearly  worthless,  and  have  been  almost  for¬ 
gotten  and  out  of  mind.  They  have  remained 
unoccupied  because  they  were  unsuited  for 
cotton  and  sugar  lands ;  but  if  under  the  care 
of  the  States  in  which  they  lie  and  the  cooper¬ 
ation  of  this  company  they  were  brought  into 
market  and  settled  by  frugal  and  industrious 
emigrants  from  Europe,  they  would  become 
valuable  as  grazing  lands  for  the  culture  of 
the  vine,  for  silk,  for  orchards,  and  for  the 
mineral  wealth  which  they  contain.  If  so  appro¬ 
priated,  they  would  enrich  the  South  by  intro¬ 
ducing  new  and  varied  industrial  pursuits  tend¬ 


ing  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  southern 
States.  Lands  similarly  situated  in  the  north¬ 
ern  States  have  been  so  appropriated  by  Con¬ 
gress,  and  why  may  not  we  of  the  South  ask 
for  similar  favors  at  the  hands  of  the  Federal 
Government? 

Before  I  resign  the  floor  I  desire  to  refer  to 
sundry  memorials  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  showing  the  deep  interest  manifested 
by  the  public  in  the  success  of  this  great  Amer¬ 
ican  enterprise. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  the  resolutions  of  the 
Louisville  Commercial  Convention,  in  favor  of 
granting  aid  to  this  company  and  earnestly 
commending  it  to  the  support  of  Congress,  with 
letters  accompanying  the  same  from  our  for¬ 
eign  ministers,  Messrs.  Jay,  Washburne,  and 
Marsh,  at  the  Courts  of  Austria,  France,  and 
Italy — all  expressing  an  earnest  desire  for  the 
success  of  this  enterprise.  Judge  Shellabarger, 
our  ex-minister  at  the  Court  of  Portugal,  ex¬ 
presses  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  success  of 
this  company. 

I  have  also  the  resolutions  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  of  Norfolk,  urging  upon  Congress  the 
importance  of  this  line  of  steamships  and  ask¬ 
ing  the  aid  sought  in  this  bill.  From  the 
boards  of  trade  iu  Richmond  and  Alexandria 
memorialists  urge  upon  Congress  the  policy  of 
this  bill.  Tennessee  has  shown  her  appre¬ 
ciation  of  this  important  measure  by  having 
already  passed  an  act  reincorporating  the  ori¬ 
ginal  charter  of  this  company  and  giving  it 

Suthority  to  locate  immigrants  and  supervise 
|eir  interests  within  her  State,  and  authoriz¬ 
ing  aid  to  be  extended  to  the  company  by  its 
citizens,  companies,  and  corporations ;  and 
her  noble  example,  it  is  believed,  will  soon 
be  followed  by  the  other  southern  States. 

From  Massachusetts  also  I  have  the  honor 
to  present  a  memorial  signed  by  the  Governor 
and  prominent  citizens  of  that  State,  commend¬ 
ing  the  objects  of  this  bill ;  aud  we  commend 
this  memorial  to  the  honorable  Senators  from 
that  distinguished  State,  and  feel  confident  it 
will  meet  their  full  concurrence  and  command 
their  support  of  this  bill. 

From  the  Empire  State,  too,  which  gave  this 
company  its  charter,  memorials  are  before  the 
Senate  numerously  signed  by  eminent  mer¬ 
chants  and  citizens  of  the  city  and  the  country, 
and  from  the  Governor  and  members  of  the 
Legislature,  without  respect  of  party,  showing 
a  deep  interest  felt  in  that  powerful  State  in 
behalf  of  this  great  enterprise  ;  and  I  trust  that 
the  distinguished  Senators  from  that  State  will 
gratify  the  wishes  of  their  constituents,  aud 
give  the  bill  their  powerful  support. 

All  these  memorials  and  legislation  in  be¬ 
half  of  this  company  show  the  full  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  this  great  enterprise  as  a  national  meas¬ 
ure,  and  thereby  strengthen  its  appeal  to  the 
aid  of  Congress. 


4 


Mr.  President,  I  will  not  longer  detain  the 
Senate.  I  cannot  but  hope  that  when  the  great 
objects  of  this  company,  as  provided  in  this  bill, 
when  the  comparatively  small  aid  required  of 
Congress  in  order  to  insure  its  complete  suc¬ 
cess,  and  when  the  more  than  compensating 
advantages  to  the  whole  Republic  are  consid¬ 
ered,  when  the  higher  considerations  of  honor 


and  patriotism  involved  in  this  American  enter¬ 
prise,  and  its  tendency  to  restore  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  from  the  humiliation  of 
its  present  crushed  and  abject  condition  are 
taken  into  view,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I 
shall  feel  deeply  pained  if  this  bill  does  not 
command  on  its  passage  a  full  vote  of  the 
Senate. 


